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The fine art of enjoying Kerala Sadhya

It’s a confluence of all six varied tastes on your palate- sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent.

S. John

Experiential Travel

Yes, it is a fine art, to enjoy the traditional Kerala Sadhya. It follows strict routines, traditions and backing of Ayurveda for an enjoyable experience. It’s a confluence of all 6 varied tastes on your palette, sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. An authentic traditional Kerala Sadhya can boast the number of dishes from 25 to 30!

Start by placing the prewashed washed plantain leaf’s tail end to your left and cut portion to your right. Many to be sure, uses the water served to drink to wash the leaves before the serving.

Enjoying the rice along with Sambar • PC: Majo Jose

"Mind you, the elders will frown upon you, if the dishes are served out of turn. "

Now it’s time to place the right ingredients at the right place on the plantain leaf. Mind you, the elders will frown upon you, if the dishes are served out of turn. First served is Upperi(Banana chips, Sharkaravarty & Taro roots (Chembu) fry) to the extreme left bottom half. In some parts of the state, fried salted curd chilly are also served. Also a pinch of salt is served for those who needs more salt in their food. Then served is 2 pappadams and a banana. To the left top placed are three Uppilittathu(pickles) - lemon, mango & Ingi curry(ginger) which is very good for digestion and to bring in change of different tastes.

Also read: Must taste delicacies of Kerala which will make you crave for more!

About seven side dishes are served on the top extreme right of the leaf before the rice is served. Avial being the major and next to it is Thoran, then the hot and sour Kichadi, and then comes the sweet side dish, Pachadi. Usually masala mixed side dishes are not served; but in some parts Koottu curry, Erissery etc are also served. Now comes the curd based, sour tasting Kalan along comes Olan made with Ashguard, red gram and coconut milk.

Clockwise from L to R : A malayalee girl in traditional Settu Mundu serving sadhya, Parippu being served to kick start the feast, Adapradhaman served during the meal course and Moru being served • PC: Amrita B, Keralaculture.org

Now you are ready for the feast. Spoiler alert!- No cutlery to be used. Just plain hand & sit on the floor legs folded. So make sure both your hands are clean and legs flexible enough to endure the long meal.

Start by placing a small serving of rice and divide it into equal half and pour Parippu(Lentils) curry on to it and add ghee and mix it thoroughly with pappadam and enjoy. While you are at it, intermittently, touch-taste any pickles: lemon, ginger or mango.

Once you have relished it all, is the time to have rice with Sambar with the other half of rice kept aside and add sambar and mix well and relish with avial.

With your palms, wipe clean the rice serving portion of the leaf once the sambar mixed rice course is done, to make way for Payasam(Kheer). First served is parippu payasam or adapradhaman and once its wiped clean, follows by semiya or rice paal payasam. In some parts of the state sweet boli/Puran poli(a flaky & melt in mouth sweet made with chana dal, sugar & ghee) are also served along with semiya payasam.

Don’t ever think the eating is coming to any close since you have tasted the sweets/deserts. We are just warming up!

Highlight of the traditional Kerala Sadhya is having it on banana leaf and relishing it with bare hand • PC: Majo Jose

After enjoying the payasams, serve more rice and it with Pulisserry along with Kootu curry, thoran & pickles. In some parts of the state, Pulissery is served immediately after the Sambar course, which are followed by the sweet payasams.

Now, add little more portion of rice and have it with Rasam. Once this is relished, add another portion of rice and enjoy it with Moru(water thinned curd fortified with crushed ginger, crushed shallots and curry leaves) which is very good for digestion. Both Rasam & Moru, while served are also received with one’s cupped palms and relished it directly by drinking and rest on to the rice.

We are getting closer to the end. Now take a small serving of Payasam and add a banana by mashing into it. Adding also a pappadam to it is optional and intermittently taste pickle to break the monotony and you are done.

Along the course, you can taste the banana chips, sharkaravaratty as you please.

Once this is over, the leaf is folded upwards to your opposite side and rise to wash. If you feel like licking your fingers,you cant be blamed. So go ahead and do it!

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Tips: Take small portions of all items so that you can enjoy each taste without stuffing up your tummy.
Note: The serving & relishing process mentioned may vary from places to places depending of the culture and local practices.

Blog cover image courtesy: Desi Traveller

S. John
10 Comments
2019-06-09
1992 days ago

About the Author

An ex senior banker by profession, S John is a voracious reader, humanitarian and a staunch nature, wildlife lover. He enjoys travelling deep into wild life sanctuaries and have traveled all across in India on work. He has a large collection of valuable books at his home library and has the gift of narrating real life experiences that the listener is carried away to those lands. His wife is a home maker and has two daughters who are married and settled. You may contact him at john41147@yahoo.co.in

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Geetha

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Good read!

Rakhi Jayashankar

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Proud to be a Malayali. The way the sadya is explained feels like we had a heartful feast.

Seena

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Good read...

Sunny George, Kochi

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Well written and makes you feel relishing a Sadhya!

Anju, Mumbai

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Amazing description of a time honored dish with a distinct way of eating it.

Dimal Casper , Abu Dhabi

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Well written ????

Deepak Peter jose, Dubai

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Well written with an eye for detail. Takes you back the memory lane

Rashmi Sandeep, Dubai

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With your beautiful explanation I was personally relishing the sadhya with my divine conscious.. Nanni ????????

Joseph, Chennai

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Loved it!!! Made me want to have sadhya right now. ????

T T Paul, Edappally

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A comprehensive account of onam sadya. Enjoyed. Its like i had a sadhya!